'UPFRONT with Mike Gousha' recap for Jan. 13, 2013

-- Two state lawmakers debated proposed changes to the Milwaukee County Board, with one former board member saying the body worked better when it was part time.

“There has been tension between the board and the county executive since the board went to a full-time position,” now state Rep. Joe Sanfelippo told "UPFRONT with Mike Gousha."

Added the West Allis Republican, who's proposing a new bill in the Legislature to change the board along with GOP Sen. Alberta Darling: “If you take a look at what the board accomplished in the 1960s and 1970s, when it was part time, it did much a better job of managing the county’s business than the full-time board does today.”

But state Democratic Sen. Jon Erpenbach said the Milwaukee Board discussion at the state level is a waste of time given more pressing matters like job creation and the economy.

Erpenbach also said he takes issue with the state interfering with the functioning of the Milwaukee County Board. “I am wondering, as a state senator from Middleton, why am I sticking my nose into this?”

“Imagine if Congress came into Wisconsin, the state Legislature, and said this is how you are going to run your Legislature, and this is how much you are going to get paid,” Erpenbach said on the UPFRONT show, produced in conjunction with WisPolitics.com.

Sanfelippo countered the comparison wasn't “apples to apples.”

"County government was created by the state. Therefore county government is really an arm of the state,” he said. “The state could come in and has the right to say if the county is not performing properly the state can make some changes.”

Erpenbach argued Sanfelippo had an opportunity to make these changes before when he was on the Milwaukee County Board and collecting the full salary.

Sanfelippo said he worked for changing the pay back then as well. He said he went as far as giving money back to the treasury for county furlough days.

-- Also on the program was Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Vince Megna, who said he sees candidate David Koch more of an opponent than incumbent Pat Roggensack.

According to Megna, Koch contributed just under a million dollars to help re-elect another conservative justice, David Prosser, in 2011.

“Outside billionaires contribute to the Wisconsin Supreme Court trying to get their voice on it… this is the people’s court of Wisconsin not Koch’s,” he said.

And the lemon law attorney and open Democrat said he's being truthful with people when he states his political and ideological position on issues.

“All judges on the court have an ideology; they just don’t tell you what it is,” Megna said. “Having an ideology or perspective isn’t going to prevent me from applying the law properly and fairly according to facts and argument on any issue.”

Megna, Roggensack and Marquette Law Professor Ed Fallone meet in a primary next month. Roggensack is seeking a second 10-year term.

“I think the revenue increase should be $200 per student,” said the Ripon Republican, a member of the budget-writing Joint Finance Committee. “We need to give students some money because we lowered their costs (while) everything else seems to be coming back up.”

Olsen said he doesn't think schools that perform better should be the only ones receiving more revenue. The state developed a way of testing performance last legislative session.

“Maybe the (schools) that aren’t (performing well) need a little more to be successful also,” he said.

Private "school choice," also referred to as a voucher system, is expected to boosted by certain Republicans in the new session.

However, Olsen said he would like to see localities put the voucher system to a referendum.

-- Mike Gousha says Wisconsin is one of only a few states where lawmakers are considered full-time, and some people are saying it's time for a debate about whether lawmakers should be part-time.

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